March 11, 2014 — In addition to this week's NewsBreak(s), the editors have compiled the Weekly News Digest, featuring stories from the week just past that you should know about. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) reported the findings of “The Software Division Marketing Industry Report,” its annual survey of more than 100 marketing executives. Key results include the continued high use of social media in corporate marketing (92%), the increased use of mobile marketing (37%, up from 25% last year), and the increased ability to measure online marketing efforts’ ROI (64%, up from 55% last year). SIIA members can log in to the SIIA website to view the complete report.

The survey found that mobile marketing increased product usage for 25% of respondents, and 30% said mobile has expanded one-to-one contact with customers. “It also appears that as marketers continue to assess how to best use social media, they are increasingly focusing on implementing it as a brand awareness tool,” saysRhianna Collier, VP of SIIA’s software division. Marketing executives now focus on efficiency because ROI can be easily determined, she says.

“Despite the overwhelming use of social media and digital marketing tools, our survey demonstrates that there is still no replacement for face-to-face contact,” according to Collier. She notes that conferences and in-person events still yield the most ROI for marketing executives.

Source: Software & Information Industry Association

Thieme Introduces OA Platform

Thieme launched an open access (OA) platform, Thieme Open, as a resource for authors to view Thieme’s OA publishing options. It aggregates Thieme’s OA articles on a single platform that is permanently available online for free.

Thieme Open features nine fully OA journals, individual articles published as OA, and a section for authors affiliated with the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. Thieme made a deal with the university to allow authors to publish their work as OA in a selection of Thieme journals throughout 2014. The platform also provides authors with Thieme’s license conditions, archiving practices, author guidelines, and other information about publishing with Thieme. Authors can submit manuscripts directly from the platform.

“We created Thieme Open as a one-stop access point to continually updated information regarding Thieme’s wide range of open-access options,” says Regina Wenzel, program planner for journals at Thieme. “Thieme offers open-access publication services that are just as comprehensive as those for traditional journal articles. All items are carefully reviewed and edited—discerning peer reviews are as essential a part of open-access publishing as they are for print journals.”

“We know there’s a high demand for Rosetta Stone language solutions within the library community, and by joining forces with EBSCO, we can provide these important institutions with extraordinary public access to our core language-learning technology,” says Rob Mercer, Rosetta Stone’s VP of sales, enterprise, and education.

Through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the GPO distributes certain government documents freely to 1,200 U.S. libraries. The GPO's expanded ebook program meets the growing needs of the FDLP.

The CGP provides the option to find nearby Federal depository libraries that have specific publications as part of the FDLP and also offers direct links to publications that are online. Topics include the military, agriculture, science, health, and national security.

“Expanding eBooks is another example of GPO’s commitment to serving as the digital information platform for the Federal Government,” says Davita E. Vance-Cooks, public printer of the United States and the GPO’s CEO. “GPO and the library community will continue to work together to provide the public with greater access to Government information in multiple formats.”

Source: U.S. Government Printing Office

EPAM and Concurrent Collaborate on Big Data Management

EPAM, a software services and solutions provider from Central and Eastern Europe, teamed up with Concurrent, Inc., a software platform for Big Data applications. EPAM will leverage Cascading, Concurrent’s open source application framework, to help companies enable faster time-to-market and deliver repeatable solutions with a standard infrastructure and flexible support for Hadoop distributions.

Findaway World, which provides content from every major audiobook publisher, delivered 40,000 titles to 3M Cloud Library’s debut e-audiobook collection. E-audiobooks are compatible with all devices that already use the 3M Cloud Library application, and they automatically insert bookmarks that are stored in the cloud. 3M Cloud Library’s existing apps will be updated to include e-audiobook discovery, checkout options, and listening capabilities.

Source: 3M

Innovative and Bibliotheca Partner for Product Integration

Innovative entered into a strategic alliance with Bibliotheca that integrates Innovative’s library services solutions with Bibliotheca’s radio frequency identification (RFID) and bar code solutions. Innovative now has rights to directly resell Bibliotheca’s RFID systems to its customers in multiple countries—including to libraries in the Americas, Europe, and Australia—and to market Bibliotheca products under its own brand.

The alliance establishes a formal working relationship among each company’s marketing, support, and consulting organizations in order to streamline product integration. The companies will work to identify and develop technologies that provide connectivity between their product lines.